KATHARSIS VVorld VVithout End

Artist: KATHARSIS
Title: VVorld VVithout End
Year of Release: 2007
Label: The AJNA Offensive/NED
Format: CD

Pure violence and chaos, 'VVorld VVithout End' proves that savagery is not always akin to speed, and while this album has some fast parts, it's real malevolence emerges in the fiercely caustic and suffocating sound.

Initially it was difficult to find a way into, and the first wave of listens left me a little uninspired. This problem was overcome in time and the magick that this release possesses revealed itself.

Comprised of 6 cuts and almost an hour in duration, it excites me that no other bands sound like Katharsis, and that this dense, swarming holocaust of sound really strikes as one of the truly unique offerings in today's BM scene.

The guitar tone is of particular note and though hard to describe, it has a great mid rangy kinda feel to it. Still not much on the bottom end and comparable, though not similar to the sound achieved by bands like Master's Hammer and Megiddo.

If you're looking for catchy songs, and safe arrangements, forget it, this is cruel and uncompromising black metal for those who dare to dwell in the abyss.

DARKTHRONE The Dull Years Part 5

Artist: DARKTHRONE
Title: Total Death
Year of Release: 1996
Label: Moonfog Productions
Format: LP (CD Cover Shown)

Of the five albums falling into the ‘dull years’ category, I believe this to be the strongest, and opening cut ‘Earth’s Last Picture’ is probably the most fortified of everything from this era. Has some very cool and untypical riffs punctuated with tidy harmonics and some very commanding, yet catchy drumming. It is also one of the very rare Darkthrone tracks to incorporate bass guitar to the level it has been in this piece, and though it sounds like Skoll from Ulver playing this track, it is not that far removed in that it is Garm who has written the lyrics. Well hardly the same thing, but less random than Garm’s lyrics and Lemmy playing bass isn’t it?

In fact, there are numerous guest lyricists on this album which is not a first for Darkthrone, and the finest works are provided by outsiders on this occasion – the aforementioned Garm, and Carl Michael whose ‘Blasphemer’ is on par with Darkthrone’s finest Satanic poetry.

It’s not long though before that murky, kinda directionless sound and style finds its way and bubbles to the surface. Left over ‘Transilvanian Hunger’ riffs permeate and when considering the trancelike element of that release, I believe it should have remained a singular and unique entity. Were it not so radically removed from the first two BM offerings that may not be a suitable argument; however… This is a tricky argument too when considering that percentages of ‘Panzerfaust’ are comprised of that style, but I think the difference there is that is sounds more vital.

It’s timely to interject once again that this LP is the strongest of those falling into the realms of this discussion and probably the question should again be raised that if you are only as strong as your last offering, why should the past inform the present? I think the answer to that is, for the most part, who would be listening if ‘Total Death’ was the first Darkthrone album? And though people took note then, would they be relishing it now?

Black-thrash-speed metal number ‘Blasphemer’ was somewhat timely when considering the advent of acts playing this style around the mid 90’s, and while I am not convinced it is a style that Darkthrone execute with overt masterdom, it is engaging and it does lend this record with further details of merit that distance it further from the other releases in this category. The Hellhammer-esque aura of ‘The Serpents Harvest’ is a tidy closer (at least the start of it) and a logical regression from ‘Panzerfaust’s Frost worship.

The flow of riffs is great on this record is tidier than much of what would follow it, and to qualify this offerings place in this dull category really needs to be determined via a score styled system. If ‘Panzerfaust’ was a 9/10 record, this could only be a 6/10 and when you have grown to expect immortal platters of blackened brilliance, a 6 simply won’t do.

IMPALED NAZARENE Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz

Artist: IMPALED NAZARENE
Title: Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz
Year of Release: 1992
Label: Osmose Productions
Format: LP

A truly profane record that often borders on the ridiculous, the first two platters by Impaled Nazarene are definitely noteworthy, and though not overly heavy (compared to say Beherit or Archgoat), they are extremely fast and chaotic. I think that things definitely changed for the band as they turned their backs on the black metal spirit, as opposed to the sound, and unfortunately they failed to gather a new audience, which saw them become something of a maligned entity. Sure their first two albums are their best in my opinion, but when they managed to kick off with something as devastatingly overkill as ‘Tol Cormpt…’ you can’t help but to lament that things went as they did.

I’m confident that an ever changing line up served the band no favour either, though it did allow them to retain a diversity… the kind that new blood always enables.

Though not grindcore in style, this record has loads of those little intro styled pieces of depraved sounding acts with man and beast and I often wonder if that crowd would ever find release in this offering. It does feel a little disjointed on occasion due to these intros etc, but when it’s cooking, it’s a truly fierce and savage offering.

I think Impaled Nazarene are victims of their own desire to do as they wanted to, irrespective of what the scenes and cliques dictated, though unlike a band such as Cradle Of Filth whose debut came out not long after this one, and believe it or not were quite well respected at that time, Impaled Nazarene should not be victim to revisionism as their sound and attitude, of that time at least, was very much a black metal one.

Their funny little ‘wars’ with Norway and Eastern Europe are worth revisiting too. “For ten fucking years have I done this and they say WE are trend.”

BEHERIT Drawing Down The Moon

Artist: BEHERIT
Title: Drawing Down The Moon
Year of Release: 1993
Label: Spinefarm
Format: LP

What ‘Drawing Down The Moon’ possesses that no other BM bands have conjured in the same way is that eerie, caustic and ungodly atmosphere. I love how simple most of this album is; that it drinks so deeply from the blackened well of despair and that Holocausto’s vocals are so inhuman and surreal.

I managed to pick up a copy of the gatefold reissue of this album from a few years back, and that in itself was quite the ordeal. I had come across an original pressing back in ’95, but the cover was heavily bent and well I was foolish wasn’t I? Though I play records, I still appreciate the aesthetic and if there was one, there were bound to be more right?

What a masterful logo, and a powerful statement made by the cover. I have no idea what ‘Drawing Down The Moon’ means, but I could stare at this cover for hours and allow myself to be absorbed in the resonant blackness that flows out of these tracks like black lava.

The contrast between the fast, blasting sections, the catchy riffs and the slow atmospheric parts give the album a true diversity and allow it to work on a series of levels often forgotten. In saying that, mostly I think of the deep atmospheres of this release, ignoring completely the blasting offensive of ‘Solomon’s Gate’.

Arguments as to what is true and the like are tedious where I am concerned but I stand by the idea that this is one of the most important and relevant black metal albums ever made and would suggest that if you have never experienced this opus, you have little idea as to how deep the chasm truly is…